Ruto announces Sh4 billion for teacher promotions

NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 12 – President William Ruto has announced an additional Sh4 billion to support teacher promotions, unveiling a major boost to career progression during the Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association (KESSHA) National AGM in Mombasa. Ruto said 50,000 teachers would be promoted in the current financial year, describing it as the largest promotion exercise in a single year. The President further revealed that new career progression guidelines agreed upon by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and teachers’ unions had been concluded and approved. “The Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the body mandated to look into such regulations, has now approved,” Ruto said. He added that the government would provide another Sh4 billion to facilitate the career progression of teachers. “I know that was the most important question you wanted to ask me. But you also know that I am a good student and I do my homework,” the President said. Ruto also announced that his administration had recruited 100,000 teachers over the past four years, with another 20,000 expected to join in December 2026. “This will be the largest expansion of teaching workforce in our nation’s history,” he said. The President said Kenya had faced a shortage of 116,000 teachers in 2022, adding that the government had chosen to increase recruitment beyond the pace of previous administrations. Ruto also challenged education stakeholders to prepare learners for a future shaped by artificial intelligence, warning that knowledge alone would no longer be enough to secure opportunities in the changing job market. “The world will not pay our children for what they know. It will pay them for what they can do with what they know,” he said. He called for more teachers, inspiring learning spaces and funding that follows the learner, saying the country had made progress but was “not yet there” in ensuring learners acquired essential reading and numeracy skills.